The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently denied bail to Mohammed Shahid Khan, an Islamic terrorist who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in 2023 when it busted the ISIS Jabalpur module. While denying the bail, the court noted that accused Shahid and other co-accused were “not only supporting the activities of terrorist organization but also they wanted to stand their own organization with the intention to ruin the Constitution of India.”
In an order pronounced on 6th January 2025, a division bench of Justices Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Anuradha Shukla observed that religious terrorism is “tragic and dangerous” and the court cannot express “undue leniency” to a person accused of terrorism and other unlawful activities. The bench rejected Shahid Khan’s plea against the decision of a trial court denying bail to the accused ISIS Jihadi.
Before delving into what the court said in its judgement, the Jihadi Mohammed Shahid Khan’s arguments and the prosecution’s opposition, it is pertinent to recall who exactly is Mohammed Shahid Khan and his terror activities.
Mohammed Shahid Khan was arrested by the NIA and ATS from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh in May of 2023. He and two others, Syed Mamoor Ali and Mohammad Adil Khan, were nabbed for being part of an ISIS module in the state. The agencies had recovered weapons, ammunition, incriminating documents and electronic gadgets during their search. The plot was connected to ISIS’s operations to radicalise naive Muslim youth via social media and on-the-ground “Dawah” (invitation to embrace Islam) initiatives.
The three were the subject of a case filed under multiple sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code. Kasif Khan, another suspect, was later apprehended by the NIA in August of the same year. NIA then filed a chargesheet against all of them. According to the inquiry, they were aggressively targeting democratic institutions and people, including well-known politicians, since they were motivated by the ideology of the terrorist group.
“The module had been conducting meetings in local religious places and houses, and hatching plans to spread terror in the country by unleashing violent attacks at the instance of the ISIS leadership. They had also been engaged in collecting funds, disseminating ISIS propaganda material, motivating and recruiting youth, and procuring deadly weapons,” the NIA unveiled. The module was a component of the worldwide ISIS network that used sleeper cells and localized units spread throughout several states to destabilize India.
The criminal appeal was filed before the Madhya Pradesh High Court by accused Mohammed Shahid Khan through his counsel under Section 21(4) of the National Investigation Agency Act of 2008, challenging the ruling that denied the appellant bail. The appellant was arrested for committing an offence punishable under Sections 120-B (Punishment of criminal conspiracy), 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153-B (Imputation assertions prejudicial to national integration), and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion), 17 (Punishment for raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (Punishment for conspiracy, etc), 20 (Punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organisation), 38 (Offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation), 39 (Offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation) and 40 (Offence of raising fund for a terrorist organisation) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Zakir Naik’s Jihadist Influence, Dawah to Hindus, WhatsApp groups and terror conspiracy: The revelations made in the NIA investigation into the ISIS Jabalpur module
The NIA found that during the nationwide lockdown in the year 2020 in the wake of Covid pandemic, the accused persons Syed Mamoor Ali, Adil Khan and others started learning about comparison of religion through watching the videos of Zakir Naik, an Islamic hate preacher, reading Quran and Hadees. Accused Jihadi Adil Khan was influenced by fugitive Zakir Naik’s jihadist rhetoric to a great extent and gained knowledge about the geopolitical landscape pertaining to countries like Syria, particularly Sham, Israel, United States, Saud Arabia and Khurasan among others. The accused drew a Quranic significance to Jihad and became convinced that Shariyat or the rule of Sharia must be imposed all over the world and people should not follow man-made laws.
Similarly, the NIA found that co-accused Syed Mamoor was “listening and watching Islamic lectures delivered by Islamic orators such as Zakir Naik, Syed Faiz, Dr. Israr Ahmad etc. and was also watching videos of Anwar-Al-Awlaki. He started searching about Jihad and corroborated the same with Quran for developing Jihadis ideology as he wanted to spread Sharia law all over the world,” the court order reads.
The NIA probe revealed that Syed Mamoor was giving Dawah to Hindus and accused Jihadi Syed Mamoor was distributing pamphlets carrying Islamist propaganda. It is pertinent to note that Dawah in Islam means to proselytise or call upon non-Muslims to convert to Islam. In June 2023, OpIndia reported about the NIA seizing Dawah documents titled “Dawah to Hindus” from the possession of Jihadi Adil Khan. This document divided into 12 chapters contains extremely derogatory language for Hindu Devi-Devtas and misquoted Hindu scriptures.
Adil Khan who was on the agency’s radar since August 2022 and his aides were promoting ISIS propaganda through social media and on-ground ‘Dawah’ programmes to carry out terrorist activities at the behest of ISIS. The NIA had stated the arrested terrorists were receiving funding for carrying out Dawah programmes and disseminating ISIS propaganda. Jihadi Adil Khan also ran a YouTube channel with around 92,000 subscribers. Most of his subscribers were not based in India. The cover picture of terrorist Adil Khan’s YouTube channel read, “Religion of Truth (Islam) to prevail over all religion”. As the NIA launched an investigation into the matter the said YouTube channel spreading Islamic Jihadist propaganda was deleted.
The NIA investigation uncovered that present appellant Mohammed Shahid Khan and co-accused Kashif Khan were also listening to the speeches of Islamic hate preachers like Zakir Naik and were involved in the unlawful activities of other accused persons.
“All the accused persons were watching Islamic lectures to provoke Jihad and implement Sharia law all over the world including India. All the accused persons became close friends and started discussing Quran and Hadeeth and Jihad too. They all started sharing radicalized thoughts with each other. They had a common mind of establishing Sharia law in India through violent means. They used to visit Falah Darain Masjid for offering Namaz, where they used to discuss Jihad through violent means and Khilafat based on Shariyat,” the court order reads.
The accused prepared pamphlets similar to the ISIS and Al-Qaeda flags and pasted one such pamphlet on the wall of a mosque named Ahle Hadees to attract their co-religionists of a similar Jihadist mindset.
In August 2022, accused terrorist Kashif Khan created a WhatsApp group named “Pics” and added Shahid Khan, Adil and other people. The accused Jihadis began sharing videos, audio and other material related to ISIS, Jihad and Shariyat to radicalise the group members. In addition, the Jihadists also began sharing derogatory materials on Hindu deities. In December 2022, Kashif added Mamoor to the WhatsApp group and changed the group’s name to Fisabilillah which means for the sake of or the cause of Allah and its display picture to a flag similar to that of ISIS. The accused were discussing Jihad, Shariyat and Khilafat in the group.
“In order to escape themselves from the radar of Investigation Agency, they decided to use code names for ISIS such as “eye S”, “eye ass”, “eye as”, “eye sis”, “eye see”, “Dhadiwale”, “Dawlah”, “1515”, “15”, “Mujahideen” and “Eye s fisabilillah”. They also decided that present appellant would be the Ameer of the group,” the court order reads.
The NIA investigation further exposed that the jihadi Mohammed Shahid Khan and other co-accused were conspiring to attack the Ordnance Factory in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh to procure large quantities of weapons to carry out terror activities. The accused jihadists had planned to blast the factory upon failing to “capture” the factory. Addressing each other as “Mujahids” (soldiers of Islam), accused Syed Mamoor had planned to deploy three ‘Mujahids’ against each security personnel at the factory. Meanwhile, Kashif Khan was assigned the task of preparing an explosive. Jihadi Kashif shared a YouTube video link in the said WhatsApp group which gave a tutorial on how to make highly inflammable explosives using daily use items.
It also emerged that these Jihadis did not t believe in the concept of Nationalism, Democracy, Constitution and Voting system and motivated others to do so.
“They wanted to recruit like-minded people in large number to strengthen their organization. They also decided to make monthly contribution for their cause and they also wanted to raise funds through Bait-ul-mal. During the course of investigation, various audios/videos/PDFs of ISIS publications as well as incriminating handwriting diary, digital devices, literature, pamphlets, mobile phones were seized from possession of the accused persons. The investigating agency also procured CDR between the accused persons. The accused persons got arrested by the investigating agency,” the court order mentions.
The arguments presented by jihadi Mohammed Shahid Khan’s counsel in the criminal appeal before the Madhya Pradesh HC
The advocate representing accused Mohammed Shahid Khan argued that he has been “falsely implicated” in the case and that the prosecution’s case is based on suspicion. The appellant’s counsel contended that since has no criminal antecedents, keeping him in jail will “adversely affect” his family.
Emphasising his alleged disability, the jihadi Mohammed Shahid Khan’s counsel contended that Shahid is physically handicapped and unable to perform such dangerous/difficult tasks. “Mere exchange of religious beliefs does not constitute any offence,” jihadi Shahid’s counsel said.
The counsel further argued that Shahid Khan did not create the contentious WhatsApp group “Fisabillilah” and no weapons were seized from his possession.
It was argued that the Trial Court did not accurately assess the provisions of the law, and that mere association with a terrorist organisation is not sufficient to attract Section 38 of UAPA, nor does mere support for a terrorist organisation entitle one to Section 39. The association and support have to be with an intention and in furtherance of the activities of the terrorist organization.
“Mere association with terrorist organization is not sufficient to attract Section 38 of UAPA and mere support to a terrorist organization is not sufficient to attract Section 39 of UAPA. The association and support have to be with an intention and in furtherance of the activities of the terrorist organization,” the appellant’s counsel argued adding that accused Shahid is a permanent resident of Jabalpur district and is “no likelihood of his absconding or tampering with the prosecution evidence.”
Prosecution’s strong counter
Appearing for the NIA, which is the respondent in this case, the counsel strongly opposed the accused Jihadi’s appeal and contended that the accused person’s crime is of serious nature and against India’s integrity and peace.
The counsel informed the court that the NIA has collected incriminating material viz. audio clips, video clips, objectionable literatures, pamphlets, handwritten documents from the possession of all the accused persons including the appellant Mohammed Shahid Khan indicating his complicity in the crime.
“He [Shahid Khan] has further submitted that Section 43 D(5) of UAPA imposes restrictions upon the Court in granting bail to accused person. The statements of witnesses recorded under Sections 161 and 164 of Cr.P.C., clearly establishes the complicity of present appellant in the alleged crime. He further submitted that it is not necessary that every person who are involved in terrorist activities must have criminal antecedents,” the prosecution argued adding that appellant Shahid Khan was fully aware of the banned terrorist outfit ISIS and its jihadist activities in India and the world.
The prosecution also refuted the claims made by the appellant about the alleged delay in the proceedings and said that “as per Section 19 of NIA Act, 2008, the trial will be conducted having precedence over other matters and therefore, there is no delay in trial proceedings,” the counsel said adding that if the accused is released on bail there is a high possibility that may flee.
The observations made by the Madhya Pradesh High Court while rejecting jihadi Shahid Khan’s appeal
Following the hearing of the opposing parties, the court referred to the Supreme Court’s decisions in Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali (2019) and K.A. Najeeb Vs. Union of India (2021), and extensively explained the scope and interpretation of Section 43D(5) of UAPA.
The court noted that the allegations made by the prosecution against appellant Mohammad Shahid Khan are “grave and a serious threat to societal harmony.”
The bench listed the accusations made against Mohammad Shahid Khan based on the perusal of the NIA chargesheet. The court said that Shahid Khan was associated with ISIS alongside other accused persons and was in possession of incriminating materials related to Jihad and ISIS. The court noted that Shahid Khan alongside the co-accused persons was planning on disseminating the jihadist ideology of ISIS through Dawah programs and was involved in radicalising those who came into their contact to recruit them into ISIS eventually.
“He was associated with banned terrorist organization, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) alongwith other co-accused persons. The present appellant was in possession of several incriminating literatures, pamphlets. He downloaded contents related to ISIS in his laptop from Mega cloud and subsequently transferred the in one pen drive. The present appellant discussed Shariyah, Jihad, Khilafat and ISIS along with other co-accused persons. They also planned to disseminate the ideology of ISIS through Dawah programs and started organizing Dars in Falah Darain Masjid and started radicalizing the persons who came close to them to recruit them in ISIS,” the bench said.
In addition to participating in offering Dawah, the appellant Mohammad Shahid Khan was also involved in the conspiracy to attack the Jabalpur Ordnance Factory to procure weapons for the violent furtherance of ISIS activities. Moreover, the accused was posting contentious pictures against Hinduism and nationalism on his Instagram profile. The accused was also searching about ISIS, Jihad, suicide bombings, slain terrorist Osama Bin Laden and the Islamic terror outfit Taliban.
“Present appellant took active participation in offering Dawah (invitation to religious discussion) to people in Penchkari Masjid to spot the radicalized persons to take them into ISIS. Present appellant along with other co-accused persons conspired to attack Ordnance Factory, Jabalpur, to procure weapons in large quantity for furtherance of the activities of ISIS. The present appellant did not have belief in the concepts of Nationalism, Democracy, Principles of Constitution and voting system. The present appellant was using the Instagram account namely “__mohammad.shahid..” and “truthofcertainty” and he used to post various incriminating photos against nationalism and Hindu religion. He was constantly searching about ISIS, Jihad, Taliban, Osama Bin Laden, Suicide Bombing etc,” the bench noted.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court further noted that NIA seized digital devices including a pen drive and derogatory handwritten notes belonging to the present appellant Mohammad Shahid Khan. Through forensic examination, it was confirmed that the notes were indeed written by the accused Shahid. Upon analysing the seized pen drive, the NIA found inflammatory videos, audio, images, and documentary on ISIS in addition to materials pertaining to jihad, promoting ISIS, military training for Jihad and so on.
The probe agency also examined Mohammad Shahid Khan’s mobile phone and found obscene pictures of Hindu deities alongside pro-ISIS material.
While the appellant’s counsel argued that “Mere association with terrorist organization is not sufficient to attract Section 38 of UAPA and mere support to a terrorist organization is not sufficient to attract Section 39 of UAPA”, the High Court bench noted that statements of the multiple witnesses recorded by the NIA demonstrate that Mohammad Shahid Khan and other accused were involved in the entire conspiracy.
“The witnesses also stated that the present appellant and other co-accused persons decided to make explosives from household material wherein present appellant actively participated to prepare the same. They wanted to attack Ordnance Factory, Jabalpur. The NIA also procured the CDR report of all the accused persons to show interconnection between them,” the court order reads.
Based on the evidence presented by the prosecution, the court said that there is sufficient material in the NIA chargesheet indicating Mohammad Shahid Khan’s active participation and commission of the unlawful activities that attract relevant UAPA sections.
Pertinently, the court noted that there are specific evidence showing that Mohammad Shahid Khan actively participated in activities defined unlawful in the UAPA.
“In view of the above discussion, it is clear that there is sufficient material available in the charge-sheet showing that the appellant has actively participated in and has committed unlawful activities as defined in the UAPA. There is specific material to show that the appellant advocated, abetted, or incited commission of many unlawful activities,” the court said.
After describing the definition of terrorist act as mentioned in Section 15(I) of UAPA, the court said that the evidence collected by the NIA shows that appellant Mohammad Shahid Khan was an active member of the conspiracy to attack the Jabalpur Ordnance Factory, which the court noted is an entity of defence. The court found that the conspiracy to attack the ordnance factory was to commit a terrorist act and Shahid Khan was an active participant of this conspiracy.
In addition, jihadi Shahid was also involved in other alleged terrorist acts and preparatory activities.
“The accused persons were not only supporting the activities of terrorist organization but also they wanted to stand their own organization with the intention to ruin the Constitution of India,” the court said.
While the court asserted that “no religion inherently supports violence or terror”, the bench cannot be lenient to a person accused of carrying out terrorist and other illegal activities.
“This Court cannot express undue leniency to a person who is facing serious charge of terrorism and unlawful activities. The trial is also set at full motion and there is every possibility of trial being completed in its due course. Therefore, considering the overall facts and circumstances, at this stage, we are not inclined to grant bail to the appellant,” the division bench of Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice Anuradha Shukla noted.
The High Court dismissed jihadi Mohammad Shahid Khan’s criminal appeal and affirmed the trial court’s order denying bail to the ISIS Jabalpur module terrorist.
